THE TEMPLE AND THE BODY

THE TEMPLE AND THE BODY

1 Corinthians 3: 16 - 23; 1 Corinthians 12: 12 - 27

SMcC The letters to the Corinthians are often referred to. These passages are well-known, but they, never fail to yield fresh help for us in the settings in which we are found in our local gatherings. In suggesting these passages, one has in mind particularly the importance of the temple in the first: “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” and then the importance of the body in the second, and the Spirit’s relation to the body as it comes out in that chapter. The thought of the temple particularly draws our attention to the great feature of light, what the saints are as convened and the Spirit of God among them, and the sure and certain way of getting help in regard to the truth in the recognition of this, and the thought of the refusal of all that is linked with man’s mind and human wisdom, as Paul alludes to it in verse 18, “Let no one deceive himself if any one thinks himself to be wise among you in this world, let him become foolish, that he may be wise.”

Then the thought of the body, the great vessel that is under the hand of the Spirit in relation to the setting forth of the testimony in a given locality, and what the saints are to one another in the light of the body. Both of these thoughts were brought in to act perhaps as a corrective to conditions in Corinth, and both serve as a great means of balance in relation to the truth as to the local position. What great advantages we have in the light of being temple of God, the assembly being the temple of God in any given city, because the Spirit of God dwells in it. What great advantages there are in the light of the body of Christ, the peculiar advantages that lie in that vehicle of holy sensitive feeling as room is made for all that might be latent in the work of God in the saints. Our relations to one another in a feeling way are stressed - what we mean to one another and the importance of recognising how we are linked together in the light of the body, so that there is no moral distance, as it were, allowed or countenanced between us. The importance of each member to the workability of the thought of the body should be seen, and especially the predominance of the Spirit in it.

JHH Would you open up a little how we could corrupt the temple? “If any one corrupt the temple of God.”

SMcC Well, of course, Paul is using an extreme statement here as to the possibility of the natural mind of the man after the flesh encroaching in this realm, “If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” That could hardly be true of a believer in the full sense of it.

GJG Will you say a word as to the relationship of gifts and leadership to this great thought? We need balance as to the two sides, do we not?

SMcC I am sure if there is gift in any locality, the brethren will be glad to make room for what is there. Gift, as has often been said, is like a precious stone. It enhances the diffusion of the light; it helps in the diffusing of light in a greater way. The temple is a sphere where light is diffused from God as to the truth.

WJB So that the functioning of the temple in no way shuts out the operation of gift?

SMcC No, indeed it does not; neither does the thought of the body. The gifts are not set in the body; they are set in the assembly. But neither of these thoughts, the temple nor the body, militate against the presence and operation of gift amongst us. Indeed, gift is largely dependent on the latent wealth that is resident in the body in relation to the development of the truth.

WJH On the other hand, would you say that the working out of the temple and the body is not dependent on gift in a locality?

SMcC No, it is not dependent on gift, but gift is a great advantage in a locality in regard to the operation of the temple. But what Paul is stressing here is what the saints in Corinth were themselves. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” He is anxious, it would seem in the letter, to keep before them the dignity of what they were as set together in the locality.

LGS Is he in that way reminding them of what he had said in the opening verses of the epistle?

SMcC What are you referring to?

LGS I was thinking of the passage reading from verse 4 of the first chapter where he thanks God for them and speaks of them being enriched in Christ Jesus, “in all word of doctrine, and all knowledge,” and that they came short in no gift, and so on.

SMcC Yes, he speaks of them as richly furnished at the outset. But he comes back to this matter of what they were as the temple of God. That is, he is not exactly bringing in that gift was essential here. He is stressing what they were as set together in the locality, especially concerned, as he is, that none of them should be making their boast in men; as he says in verse 21, “So that let no one boast in men.”

LF I was wondering in that way whether the balance does not come in in verse 16, “the Spirit of God dwells in you.” Does that balance us?

SMcC Yes, because it would seem as if at Corinth they were making a good deal of their gift, to the extent that schools of thought and opinion were established among them; and the apostle is seeking to stress what the saints were collectively as offsetting that.

CEJ Do you think that, as set together temple-wise, we would make enquiry together; and do you think that in our meetings such as these, the great matter of enquiry is important, the Holy Spirit being present to give the answer, as it were, though He may use a vessel?

SMcC Quite so. That is, our reliance is on the presence of the Spirit as to help in the truth in regard to what we might be considering. It is important that we should see that. As has often been said, Paul does not bring forward the overseers or the thought of bishops in this letter. He is seeking to stress what the saints are as set together.

Ques Is the Lord Himself an example in that way when He was in the temple hearing them and asking them questions?

SMcC The Lord is a model to us in all things. He is a great model to us of subjection, in that chapter. We are to learn from Him in all things. It is a good thing if we are ready to ask questions. The Lord, I suppose, could not only ask the questions, but He could answer them.

PB “For the temple of God is holy, and such are ye,” must always be kept before us in our localities.

SMcC Yes, exactly. One feels that in a country like this where you have in different cities so many gatherings, it must be a real practical test as to the working out of these great thoughts of the temple and the body; just how to make room for the thought in its fulness, so that the position is not overshadowed by mere personality, important as personality is in certain respects in the local position.

JP As touching the matter of temple and gift, it seems emphasised that the temple idea is local, “do ye not know that ye are the temple of God.” Gifts set in the assembly, whilst helpful in the locality, as you have said, are universal in their bearing.

SMcC Yes. They are never said to be set in the local assembly. They are always linked with the general catholic position.

FW Is it here what they are collectively, characteristically?

SMcC Yes, so that the definite article “the” need not be there. “Do ye not know that ye are [the] temple, of God.” It is what the saints were characteristically.

FW It is not a question here of gift, but what they are in the divine mind constitutionally, as you might almost say.

SMcC Yes; because we might say there were certain conditions at Corinth which might becloud this great thought, and there were conditions that would becloud the thought, but Paul is insisting on it in their minds in the teaching here, “Do ye not know that ye are [the] temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

WJB Has he not particularly in mind the excluding of the mind of man?

SMcC Just so. Just as in chapter 12 he has in mind their being preserved from independency, here he is concerned about the exclusion of human wisdom and the mind of man operating in this realm.

FW Does the expression, “Do ye not know,” suggest that while he is going to insist upon a certain truth, he is conscious that they are not properly aware of it?

SMcC Yes, he is recalling their minds to what they are in this light. “Do ye not know that ye are [the] temple of God.” It is an absolute statement as to them in their setting in Corinth.

NBS Do these words, “all things are yours,” bring home to us how fully furnished the saints are in the light of the temple; independent of what is of man; in the power of the Spirit turning all things to account?

SMcC Yes. So that you may have localities where there may not be gift present, and this is just as true of such places as it is of other places where there may be plenty of gift, what the saints are as set together in a given locality and the Spirit of God dwelling in them.

Ques Would they diffuse light in that way?

SMcC That is the thought in the temple of God. It is the place where light is diffused in relation to the truth.

Ques Would you say the mind of man leaves God out, and simple faith takes Him in?

SMcC Faith is a great factor in the divine realm. All the way through faith is an important feature in Christianity - faith and the Spirit. Here, the stress is on the Spirit, that “the Spirit of God dwells in you.”

WJH Do you think in John 2 that the Lord shows these two thoughts are somewhat interlocked? He said, “Destroy this temple,” verse 19. This He spoke of His body; but we need both thoughts for them to be both operative.

SMcC Well, the body underlies the great thought of the temple in that it gives us the inner relations of the saints and their links with one another. It is an important thing to see that if “body” conditions are not right then we find much difficulty in working things out together.

GA Would it be right to ask whether the functioning which you have in mind was really forecast in Psalm 133, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! Like the precious oil upon the head,” and so on? Would the anointed vessel be possessed of that feature of dwelling in unity, so that the feelings of the body might function normally in spite of the absence of gift?

SMcC Yes, the thought of gift is not exactly linked with the body; it is linked with the assembly. Gifts are set in the assembly. The body is a complete entity in itself in 1 Corinthians 12, and is to stress the feeling side, the love side, underlying everything. It is like the works behind the face of the clock, as has often been said.

GJG The working of the temple being dependent upon the Holy Spirit being free among us, we must not grieve Him. Is that the thought, that He might be, as it were, at home amongst us, with right feelings current amongst the brethren?

SMcC Well, it is an important thing to see that the temple of God is true of the saints whatever their conditions may be. That is, we do not exactly make the idea of the temple of God by certain conditions amongst us. We are that in our localities, and if two or three are moving in the faith of it and seeking that light might be brought in on that principle, you will find that light will come in.

GJG I understood what you said earlier as to that, but I was thinking of what you were referring to as to body feelings being necessary for the functioning of this. Is that not so?

SMcC Well, it underlies it. It underlies the thought of the temple. You may have the temple operating even when perhaps there may be conditions that are exercising among the saints.

JD Has Paul in mind what he said earlier, that, “ye all say the same thing ... that ye be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same opinion”? 1 Corinthians 1: 10.

SMcC Yes, exactly. He is wanting to stress among them the way that things come to them authoritatively in regard to the truth; that as set together in the light of what we have here, there needs to be no room for human speculation; the Spirit of God dwelling among them, there is a positive means of arriving at what is the mind of God in regard to any given matter.

JP Is this one of the examples of the necessity for holding before us the abstract truth?

SMcC That is, that whatever may obtain, it is important that we should cling to the abstract side, because our salvation lies in that.

Ques Does the word employed for the temple imply that we are to have some sense of the presence of God in the Spirit?

SMcC Yes, exactly. It is the “naos”; that is, it is the inner side of things; and the thought of holiness is intensified in this passage, as it says, “the temple of God is holy, and such are ye” - a remarkable thing that Paul can say this when we think of the concrete conditions that were there among them.

Ques Would it be right to say that, if we cling to the abstract side as to the temple, it would work out as suggested in chapter 2: 12? We would ever bear that in mind, would we not? “But we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God: which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means.” Would that be right?

SMcC Yes, exactly; the temple would intensify that thought, that spiritual things are communicated by spiritual means. You would find that operating in the temple, the way the truth comes to us, the way that spiritual things come to us. It comes to us on that principle; therefore the reference to the Spirit of God at this juncture.

JHH Speaking of the local settings, and then mentioning two or three holding on to what is right, would you say that the Lord would credit every local company with the best that is there?

SMcC He always does, and none of us should be behind the Lord in that matter, or behind Paul. We should always credit the local brethren with the best thoughts that we can credit them with. Even though there may be conditions that may have to be dealt with, as at Corinth, let us hold to this side and the Lord will bring the position round.

PW Does the understanding of the abstract position help us in connection with the practical side of it?

SMcC It always does. It is when we lose sight of the abstract position in our localities that we get into difficulties in the working out of the truth, and Paul is insisting on it in these chapters in 1 Corinthians.

CEJ So that in verse 21 he says, “So that let no one boast in men.” The saints are in danger, are they not, if they give up this thought, of having a man before them other than Christ, and the Lord is displeased with that?

SMcC Exactly, and so the importance, as we sit together in our localities in the light of the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwelling in us, of recognising this; so that we are not operating apart from it.

FW Does that involve that any part we might take when there, must be according to standard, otherwise, if according to a different standard, if it is a different standard at all, it would be corrupting in principle.

SMcC Yes, in principle it would be, especially if there is the introduction of the human mind. Paul uses a strong statement here, “If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy,” which would hardly apply in the extreme sense to a true believer, but we have to judge the principle of it in our hearts and minds and it shows the seriousness of what is in mind in regard to the temple. It is to throw into relief the holiness of the realm.

GJG Does the word, “Let no one deceive himself,” bear upon us in the light of what you are saying? It is a very solemn matter.

SMcC Well, it is. It is so easy to deceive ourselves.

Paul would help us as to that. As to the word for “deceive” here, you will notice there is a reference to 1 Timothy 2: 14 in relation to it as to Eve, “and Adam was not deceived; but the woman, having been deceived, was in transgression,” ‘a strong form of the word’ as it says in the footnote, which is important to notice. It is a strong form of the word, “Let no one deceive himself.” It is so easy to deceive ourselves.

FW Would you make any allowance in connection with this matter of corrupting, “If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy,” that it is the same word? He brings upon himself something of that character of things from God; one who might be a believer but acting so wrongly that he suffers some result from it from God?

SMcC You were linking the word “corrupting” with “deceiving”?

FW No. “If any one corrupt the temple of God, him shall God destroy.” The words “corrupt” and “destroy” are exactly the same word, as the note shows. So that if I bring defilement into that, I am myself thus defiled. God has to say to that; He cannot allow anything that is not holiness in the temple.

SMcC Well, exactly. It is important to see how things operate in this epistle from the divine side, how divine Persons take things in hand, and so it says that God does it here. We have in regard to moral conditions among them in 1 Corinthians 11, “On this account many among you are weak and infirm,” and the Lord is referred to as taking a hand in certain matters; showing how divine Persons come into these matters where divine thoughts may be entrenched upon and done despite to. But I think it is an important thing that we should see the way that the human mind is regarded in the light of the temple, the need for the absolute rejection of the mind of the flesh in this realm.

LF That is why it is called attention to in the few quotations, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are vain,” and “He who takes the wise in their craftiness.” The mind of man is totally excluded.

SMcC Exactly. We see how divine Persons are coming into matters where divine thoughts are entrenched upon by what may mark us, as it says, “If any one thinks himself to be wise among you in this world, let him become foolish, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written, He who takes the wise in their craftiness. And again, The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise that they are in vain. So that let no one boast in men,” verses 19 - 21. The temple is a delivering thought, from the influence of man and the mind of man, so that they should not exert undue influence over us. Stress is laid in these passages as to God operating against it.

Rem So He has hid these things from the wise and prudent.

SMcC Yes, exactly, but has revealed them to babes.

GHW-n Would you connect this temple with the temple of Jehovah in 1 Samuel 3?

SMcC Well, the principle of it in the type would be there; the temple of God is alluded to. The temple of God is the place of light, where we get light from God as to the truth.

Ques Are we to learn to recognise a spiritual lead on any particular occasion through whoever it may come?

SMcC As together in the light of the temple, the Spirit of God is among us, and the Spirit of God would take full cognizance of what is there, and make the most of what is there, and we would be helped too to make the most of what is there. But the stress here is on what the saints are, “ye are [the] temple of God”; not certain, or some, but all the saints in Corinth. “Do ye not know that ye are [the] temple of God.”

WJB Is that why the fullest expression of the temple in a city is when all the saints are together as in the city readings?

SMcC That is where you get the full expression of it. It may operate in principle in other ways, but the full expression of it is when the saints are together in relation to the whole city.

JC Would it be suggested that in the temple we are coming into the good of some of the things that God has prepared for them that love Him, in chapter 2?

SMcC Well, the truth would open up to us, the truth would unfold, as we are together recognising what the saints are as temple of God.

LF In that way does the appreciation of the temple really protect the saints from everything that is around us, every sectarian idea? Would all that kind of thing be met by an appreciation of what is involved in the temple?

SMcC Therefore it is incumbent upon all of us in the cities in which we are, as we assemble, to have this thought prominently in our minds. We may be afraid perhaps of too much coming forward on one line, but if the temple of God is uppermost in our minds and the Spirit of God amongst us is uppermost in our minds, we shall be helped; the truth will develop, light will come in in regard to the Scriptures.

JP Does the word “all things are yours,” emphasise the greatness of the saints, greater than the apostles, and indeed is everything the saints’ in that way because of their greatness?

SMcC Well exactly. So Paul says in verse 21, “So that let no one boast in men; for all things are yours. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things coming, all are yours; and ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.” What he says to begin with is important, “So that let no one boast in men.” That is, we are to be absolutely delivered from the snare and fear of man; the temple of God is in the ascendancy in our minds as we sit down together. The fear of man brings a snare. That is what often hinders us in getting the gain of things as we are set together.

Rem The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, not the fear of man.

SMcC It is a great thing that we should be delivered from the fear of man and it operates in many ways. The thing is to allow this thought of what the saints are in any given city in this light to be in the ascendancy in our minds, and especially to make room for the Spirit.

LGS So that this would encourage every one, even the very youngest amongst us, to come together in the recognition of this and to be exercised that the Spirit may be free in his own soul?

SMcC Yes, the temple is standing related to the whole position including all the saints in the locality, young or old. They all, as it were, are adding to the position; they are essential to it.

PB Will you say a little more as to “all things are yours. Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world,” and then it says, “or life, or death, or things present, or things coming, all are yours,” and so on. Why is that brought in there?

SMcC I think it is to show the saints their superiority in this realm that Paul is enlarging on in his ministry here; that the saints are contemplated as superior to anything, as viewed in the light of Paul’s saints.

WJB How could the world be said to be ours?

SMcC I suppose in the abstract way in which it is employed, it is to impress the saints that they are superior to anything as viewed in the light of Paul’s teaching here. The world is the saints’ in the sense that they are superior to it.

NBS So that it embraces not only things that might appear favourable but things that might appear opposed to the saints: the world and death.

SMcC “Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death ... “ whatever they may be. Whether they are operating negatively against us or positively for us, they all belong to the saints. It is to throw into relief the ascendancy of things among the saints.

JD Had they not been dropping down to a low level, and is Paul bringing this forward to elevate these great thoughts in the minds of the saints?

SMcC Yes exactly.

JD The “ye” is emphatic is it not? “such are ye,” and “ye are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.”

SMcC So that the world in this light is subserving the saints; it is not the saints subserving the world, but the world is subserving the saints, because it belongs to the saints in this light.

Now we come over to chapter 12. The great truth of the body as a vehicle in which the Spirit seems to have particular unhindered liberty, is important in regard to the local position, because it is essential that we should see our links with one another, not only in the way of light in our minds but from the subjective side, as it says in verse 13, “For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or free, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit.” The teaching is to help us inwardly in regard to this great matter as to how we are set together in the light of the body.

JHH Would the scripture help, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfil the law of the Christ,” Galatians 6: 2. Is that body feelings?

SMcC Well, it would work out that way in our care for one another, an interesting reference in that way to the law of Christ as regulating.

FW Does this help us in regard to the personnel of the saints as united together, that, while 1 Corinthians 3 would be what is collective, this would be also that which is livingly together?

SMcC Exactly, that is the point in what is stressed here, “For also in the power of one Spirit we have all been baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bondmen or free, and have all been given to drink of one Spirit.” It involves the vital side in the position.

FW That is, that all the members are recognised as several individuals united; but in 1 Corinthians 3 it is an entity, the temple?

SMcC Yes exactly, and it is an entity here. While the members are viewed individually, as set together they comprise this great entity called the body of Christ; but in the temple of God the members are not so much in view. In 1 Corinthians 12 it is what the saints are in the aggregate, but the aggregate composed of the individual members, each member adding a certain quota to the wealth of the whole.

JHH Well, from all that you have said, do you think it is rather a serious thing to leave one’s locality to go to another locality if one is not sure that it would be the Lord’s mind?

SMcC Well, of course it would be! Why are you referring to that?

JHH I was thinking of what you were saying as to the way we are set together, and the way, I suppose, we work it out in each locality; but I think I have to recognise too that the Lord in His wisdom has set me in my locality.

SMcC It is very important that we should understand where the Lord has set us. Certain things may come in to move us but it would always be a matter for sober and serious consideration if it did come about.

PB What is the difference between verses 18 and 24, “But now God has set the members, each one of, them in the body, according as it has pleased him,” and “But God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to the part that lacked.”

SMcC I think we have to understand the way that balance comes into the thought of the body. The great need of balance is set out in the thought of the body, so that no one part overshadows another. The great point in the working out of things in this light involves our relations sympathetically with one another. The temple involves what is authoritative; light coming to us in an authoritative way as together in that collective manner and way; so it is not a question just of speculation or conjecture. Light is coming to us authoritatively as we make room for the Spirit in the light of the temple. But in 1 Corinthians 12 it is not exactly what is working out authoritatively, but sympathetically between us in our links together in the light of the body.

WJH Do not the two sections show that in general, conditions where man’s mind has been allowed or where the relations of the brethren are not right, are met by ministry, while in chapter 5 an outstanding case of wickedness has to be dealt with?

SMcC You mean that in 1 Corinthians 5 it is met by the assembly in discipline, but in these matters Paul is correcting things through the principle of ministry to help the saints to come to what they are in divine thoughts.

WJB Would you say that it is most important to recognise that distinction as to what needs excision and what is to be corrected by way of ministry?

SMcC Well it is, because Paul is very clear in his ministry in this letter as to that particular matter, and especially is he helpful in regard to certain matters in bringing the saints to positive thoughts as to what they were abstractly in the mind of God.

WJB Take for instance, such a matter as domination. Normally if a brother was dominating in his locality, brothers would go to him and appeal to him in a brotherly way and bring him to see the danger which he is falling into, perhaps unconsciously, and there would also be this question of ministry coming in in the Spirit’s power to adjust the matter. Would that be right?

SMcC Well exactly, and where there is that kind of thing operating, the right way to offset it and to throw it into relief is by making room for the idea of the temple and what is coming forward in the power of the Spirit, because if you get things on wrong lines and persons assuming to places which they may not be capacitated for, the right way to offset it is by showing the positive features of the truth in what we say and what we do.

WJB Bringing in the positive is a very important principle, is it not?

SMcC Yes, so that if ministry is dry and heavy, what will offset it more than the recognition of the temple and the Spirit of God amongst us, so that freshness comes in and power in regard to the truth.

JP It would be something that necessarily would be viewed seriously if the use of the temple were not allowed in seeking to get help in any particular matter.

SMcC Well it would. We must make room for the great thought of the temple of God because it characterises the local position and we must make room, along with that, for this thought of the body of Christ, what we are as set together in the light of the body, so that there is no moral distance between us in our settings in our localities. The figure of the body implies intensity of sympathetic feelings in the way we are set together.

WJB So that as the principles of the body operate amongst us, what is spoken of in regard to ministry in chapter 14 is made practicable, is it not? What I mean is that we know one another and we know what one another is capable of, so that we would be sensitive to understand if anything is revealed to another.

SMcC Well exactly, because sensitiveness marks the body. It is seen illustrated in the figure in the early chapters of Luke, the holy sensitiveness that marked Elizabeth in relation to Mary. That should be present in our local gatherings, as room is made for the thought of the body to operate, the Spirit of God, as it were, in prominence in the matter.

LGS So that these two thoughts of the temple and the body are reciprocal thoughts, are they not? If the truth of the one body is maintained, then what is of the temple has a greater place amongst us.

SMcC Exactly, the temple is to save us from the human mind, the conjectures of the human mind, and the resources of human wisdom; and the body is to save us from clericalism and independency. These are two great positive thoughts in this epistle to save us from these features.

PB Saving us also from envy and jealousy. It is remarkable how it is put, “And if one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; and if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it.” Not all the members are glorified, but “all the members rejoice with it.” There is no envy or jealousy or feelings, it is a sympathetic system in which everything re-acts according to the moment.

SMcC How important it is that we should see our links with one another in this light. I believe that one thing that the enemy has been disrupting and challenging is these two thoughts, the temple and the body, in our localities, as if he would challenge their workability. Whereas Paul is insisting on the truth as to these two great matters in this locality in Corinth.

CEJ Are we not to see too in that way that we are necessary to one another? Verse 22 says, “But much rather, the members of the body which seem to be weak are necessary.”

SMcC It is an important thing that we should see in the light of the body, how necessary to the whole thought is everyone in the locality.

GJG How would the clothing with more abundant honour work out practically among us?

SMcC Well, in our regard for one another, and especially those who may not be taken account of as some other members might be. It says, “But much rather, the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.” Now we want to see that because our tendency is all the time to set certain aside, to dispose of weaker elements, or elements that we do not think can measure up to others; whereas we are to see that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, “and those parts of the body which we esteem to be the more void of honour, these we clothe with more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.” What a view we would have of the saints if we were working this out practically in our different localities.

Rem The apostle uses the expression, “those ... who are little esteemed in the assembly,” 1 Corinthians 6: 4. He does not say that they are not esteemed.

SMcC Exactly. It is interesting how he refers to the greatness of one member of the assembly in this letter.

JHH Do we see it working out in the natural body? We have millions of cells in our bodies. If there is an infection in one part, the body begins to function to word it off. Would you say that we work it out this way?

SMcC Well, exactly. So that it would be a serious matter if I were to discountenance a weaker member of the body, because I am interfering with divine balance in the matter of the body. It says, “But God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to the part that lacked; that there might be no division in the body, but that the members might have the same concern one for another.” We can see the effectual balance in the divine mind in the matter of the body; and that is what the enemy would seek to disrupt, because it is the hidden and underlying side of the position in our localities.

FW Will you say a word as to verse 27, “Now ye are Christ’s body,” not “ye are the body of Christ”?

SMcC What have you in mind? Say something more.

FW I was thinking of what we have in chapter 3 that “ye are the temple of God.” That is a statement. Does this statement, “Ye are Christ’s body,” mean that this is the public position as in Corinth? It is not the whole general truth of the body, but in a locality that is how the saints are set together and “ye are Christ’s body.”

SMcC Yes, exactly, “and members in particular” - a remarkable thing. Just as in the great idea in the family in sonship, the individuality of the saints is enlarged upon, each having his distinctive impression of God and of Christ, so in the matter of the body. While it is a glorious entity in itself, the members are enlarged upon, as it says, “members in particular,” not members in general, but members in particular.